After crowning Max Verstappen the 2022 World Champion in Japan two weeks ago, Formula 1 returned to Austin, Texas for the 10th running of the Circuit of the Americas, where the result was not different - the 2022 champ continued his campaign, winning the US Grand Prix on Sunday, October 23rd in front of a weekend crowd estimated to be over 400,000 strong.

Verstappen, who started third on the grid and dropped as far back as sixth due to a botched pit stop on lap 36 of 56, took the lead from rival Lewis Hamilton with just seven laps to go to claim his 13th victory of the 2022 season and the 33rd of his F1 career.

"Everything was looking great, but with that final stop, that 11-second pitstop that was not the best, after, of course... The field was quite close because of the Safety Cars," said Verstappen. "We had to recover quite a bit. Initially I had a good battle with Charles and once I got ahead I felt like I damaged my tyres a little bit too much in the beginning of that new tyre set, so the first few laps I was not really catching like I wanted to to Lewis."

"But then I think once I recovered with the tyres then I could close in a bit, step by step. And then of course, yeah, I went for the move into 12. And it was a tough few laps to get him out of the DRS," added the 2021 and 2022 World Champ.

Red Bull not only celebrated Verstappen's win on Sunday but also the 2022 Constructor's Championship, their first since 2013.

The US Grand Prix started with pole sitter Carlos Sainz being knocked out of the race after contact with George Russell on Lap 1.

"It was a difficult afternoon for me - very unfortunate, how things unfolded at the start as I don't want to be in a position where I contribute to another driver having to retire," said Russell.

"Not much to say today. I got hit by the Mercedes going into turn 1 while battling with Max (Verstappen), I managed to come back to the pits but the car was too badly damaged to continue," said Sainz.

The mid-race action took a frightening turn when contact between Fernando Alonzo and Lance Stroll set Alonzo's AMR22 to take air for a few seconds - eventually settling on the ground on the back straight on Lap 22.

Alonzo was able to continue while Stroll was retired.

"There was a big difference in speed and I was defending. I gave [Alonzo] plenty of room on the left of the track, so it was not as if I squeezed him against the wall," said Stroll. "He could have moved earlier or moved more to the left. Thankfully, it was not a big impact with the wall, I did not hit anything hard, and I am OK after the contact."

"I tried to overtake Lance [Stroll], he moved towards me and we touched wheels. I thought that I would retire the car after the incident, and it was pretty scary," said Fernando. "But the car is made of strong stuff and we were able to carry on after changing the front wing."

Stroll was handed a 3-place grid penalty for causing the collision.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton finished in P2 running a Medium/Hard/Hard strategy and leading the race from laps 41 to 49 until the Verstappen pass for the lead on Lap 50.

"I'm shattered," said Hamilton of the late race pass. "It felt amazing to be in the lead, but the car was a handful today. We came here with upgrades, and we closed the gap a little bit. It was so close, and I did everything I could to try and stay ahead, but Red Bull were just a little bit too quick."

Hamilton's teammate, George Russell, finished fifth.

Ferrari's Charle Leclerc, running an outstanding race all day, finished third on the podium.

"I had a solid start and after that, the first few laps were all about practicing patience," said Leclerc. "Things looked quite good and we even got lucky with the timing of the Safety Car, but unfortunately we had a little too much tyre degradation for the rest of the race and couldn't fight for higher positions."

"It was great to be back in the US and see how much popularity our sport has gained here over the past years," added Leclerc.

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RESULTS
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Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	56	1h 42:11.687
2	Hamilton	Mercedes	56	+ 0:05.023
3	Leclerc		Ferrari		56	+ 0:07.501
4	Perez		Red Bull	56	+ 0:08.293
5	Russell		Mercedes	56	+ 0:44.815
6	Norris		McLaren		56	+ 0:53.785
7	Vettel		Aston Martin	56	+ 1:05.354
8	Magnussen	Haas		56	+ 1:05.834
9	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	56	+ 1:10.919
10	Ocon		Alpine		56	+ 1:12.875
11	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	56	+ 1:16.164
12	Albon		Williams	56	+ 1:20.057
13	Gasly		AlphaTauri	56	+ 1:21.763
14	Schumacher	Haas		56	+ 1:24.490
15	Alonso		Alpine		56	+ 1:25.078
16	Ricciardo	McLaren		56	+ 1:30.487
17	Latifi		Williams	56	+ 1:43.588
	Stroll		Aston Martin	21	Accident
	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	16	Spun Off
	Sainz		Ferrari		1	Accident Damage

Fastest Lap: Russell (Mercedes) 1:38.788 (Lap 56)